Henley Youth Choir records Festival Winning Song
On Monday 3rd July, Henley Youth Choir recorded a composition that one of its 11 year old members wrote for the Henley Youth Festival Sing event, which took place in March this year. Chloe Cormack, a member of the Junior Youth Choir, wrote the composition based on this year’s Henley Youth Festival theme of ‘Journeys’, entitled ‘Back to England’. Chloe’s song was written for solo, duet & choir with piano accompaniment and she was helped to write it down on paper by Alfie Hay, who is one of the founders of the Youth Festival as well as being a helper at the Youth Choir.
Henley Theatre Services have now recorded it professionally, as a result of Chloe being awarded a special prize for an original composition by one of the HYF Trustees, Lucie Henwood. Chloe and all members of the Henley Youth Choir will receive a copy of the recording to keep.
Each year, Lucie is keen to encourage young people to write and perform an original piece of music or song, or choreograph their own dance. This year, Lucie was so impressed with Chloe’s song; she commented, "It was very catchy! [Chloe] deserves an extra ‘pat on the back' for creativity. The Youth Festival offers opportunities for the young people of Henley to show their talents and each year I award one or two entries, which have really impressed me. In past years, it has been guitar playing and dance, as well as singing.”
Chloe said ”I am so happy to have this amazing experience and it is great to have heard it performed by Henley Youth Choir. The Choir has given me lots of great opportunities to sing at concerts and is a fantastic club to join. I wanted the song to be a catchy upbeat melody so that lots of people coming could enjoy it”.
Peter Asprey, conductor of Henley Youth Choir, added “We are very proud of Chloe’s achievement and delighted that we could perform it all together at the Youth Festival. Hopefully she will inspire other members of the Youth Choir to start composing”.
